


Last Ditch Effort

by sleeplittlechild



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29824269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeplittlechild/pseuds/sleeplittlechild
Summary: During a dire battle against the Tomb Takers, Essek buys the Nein some time.
Relationships: The Mighty Nein & Essek Thelyss
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	Last Ditch Effort

He tricked them again. The Tomb Takers caught them, unaware, under-prepared, and exhausted.

  
And this time, they didn’t even have the chance to fly away.

  
Jester and Caduceus, in the thick of it and just too far away at the same time, flung healing as fast as the Tomb Takers were slashing. Caleb, wobbly on his feet, was down to his most basic of magics. The day had been long - and Lucien knew that. He hadn’t even bothered with a anti magic area. What arcana they did have was Child’s Play.

  
Essek was the only heavy-hitter still a threat. Early on, he had summoned an Echo to shield Veth wherever she fled to, allowing some cover as she sent bolt after bolt at the other Halfling. He displaced Gravity, placed arrows back in quivers after they had been shot, he shunted movement 20 feet past where they had wanted to go, just to waste the time and give the Nein  _ a chance _ .

  
It seemed all his actions had really accomplished was making himself a nuisance. Lucien’s eye set on him. Essek felt his feet hit the hard snow.

  
The Tomb Takers rounded on the Nein. They each had taken a knee in the fight, some more than a knee (Essek looked at Beau struggling to keep herself conscious.) They wouldn’t be able to fight much longer.

  
Lucien was barely ten feet away from him, with that incessant, Greater-than-Thou smirk on his face.

  
Essek squared his feet in the snow. Essek threw out one hand and yelled “Home!”  
  
The last thing Jester saw of Eiselcross was Lucien’s claws around Essek’s throat.

* * *

  
The first thing Jester saw of Xhorhas was the doorway of the Xhorhaus.

  
The change of temperature, of light, of sound, of adrenaline sent her toppling to her hands. She heaved, but nothing came out. Besides her, the Nein collapsed to the floor from their own exhaustion. Intentionally or not was negligible.

  
“What the fuck just happened?” Fjord choked out, perhaps the only one facing upwards to the ceiling.

  
“Essek.” Caleb gasped. “Teleported us. Back to Xhorhas.”

  
“What?!” Surprisingly, it was Veth that screeched that - sounding more like her Goblin self than she had in weeks. In an equally surprising show of energy, she scrambled up. “They’re gonna kill him. Send us back. Send us back.”

  
Caleb sighed. “With what?” He did not mean to snap, but reason and patience required energy and he had so little to use with either. “I am out of spells. And if we could go back, we can’t fight him. Not like this. We are exhausted. Look at Beauregard.”

  
There was a palpable silence as they all did just that. Beau laid flat against the wooden floor. Jester felt her heart in her throat, beating in her ears, until the monk’s whole body rose and fell with breath.

  
“I’m still here.”

  
They all breathed out as one. And then were silent.

  
“We...we just leave him there?” It was Yasha who put the words to the air.

  
Caleb dragged a hand down his face. “We can’t fight him. That’s the truth - we just can’t.”

  
Fjord groaned. He pulled himself first into a sit-up, then his knees, and finally to his feet. “We rest tonight.” His voice boomed out - not loudly. Just confidently. Resolute. There was no argument. “We leave first thing tomorrow.” He moved towards Caleb and placed his hand on the wizard’s shoulder - a sign of solidarity.

  
Caleb sighed. Fjord’s healing was like feeling the salt of the sea on his skin, smelling fresh, clean air after a morning cooped inside. Caleb watched the others react similarly, watched their shoulders drop and their posture become less tensed as Fjord touched them each. Their captain saved his first mate for last. Fjord rolled her over, gently, and pulled her into a sitting position. The whole process took less than half a minute and each second passed with more and more color returning to Beauregard and less blood appearing.

  
Tonight, they rested. At dawn, they planned.

* * *

The others filed off to bed with heavy feet. Caduceus, though, made his way into the kitchen. There was nothing that was not aided by a good cup of tea.

  
He was halfway through his first cup when Yasha entered through the doorway. She seemed surprised to see somebody else awake, but also grateful. “Hey.”

  
“Hey” Caduceus offered back. Usually he would smile at this point. Not tonight. “Is everything ok?”

  
“Yeah - yeah.” Yasha nodded. “I just...I think I’m still wound up from…” she trailed off, but Caduceus understood.  _ Everything _ . “I was going to try and make some tea to calm down. I thought the smell would make it easier for Beau to sleep, too.”

  
“Oh. I’ve got something for that. Here, I’ll make a new pot.”

  
“No, no, no.” Yasha ushered him to sit back down. “No, she’s fine. Besides - I think I might like some company after all.”

  
Caduceus nodded. He gestured to the seat across from him. Yasha took it.

  
The silence was heavy, palpable, but not awkward. Not begging to be broken by placating words or false confidence. It was the good thing about being friends with Yasha, Caduceus always thought. The strangeness of being alone, together with someone.

  
“You’re thinking about something.” Yasha mentioned.

  
“I am.”

  
“Is it anything...big?” There were a lot of big things in the world.

  
“I’m not sure, to be perfectly honest. It certainly feels like….something.”

  
Yasha placed her cup on the table. She leaned in close. “What is it?”

  
“Essek said something, when he cast his spell.”

  
It was a physical reaction, Yasha realizing. “Home.”

  
“And we ended up here. At the Xhorhaus.”

  
Yasha’s nails scratched at the cup.

  
“That feels...big."


End file.
